Semi-intensive shrimp ponds are relatively recent. Most development has occurred during the past 15 to 20 years. They are efficient and profitable to operate, but depend on a reliable seed supply, and greater management intervention in the pond's operation than with extensive ponds. Most seed for semi-intensive culture come from hatcheries, or from seed collectors who capture wild seed and sell them to the farms. Management is needed to affect satisfactory dissolved oxygen content, timely water exchange, nursery operations, appropriate feeding, and control of unwanted intruders. Skilled labor needs per unit land area increase greatly for semi-intensive ponds relative to extensive ponds, although there is a corresponding increase in shrimp production (Fast, 1992).

Conducted above the high tide line, semi-intensive farming introduces carefully laid out ponds (2 to 30 hectares), feeding aeration and water pumping. Pumps exchange 5 to 25% of the water a day. With stocking rates ranging from 100,000 to 300,000 postlarvae per hectare, there is more competition for the natural food in the pond, so farmers augment production with shrimp feeds. Wild or hatch-ery-produced postlarvae are stocked at high densities in nursery ponds until they are large enough to be stocked at lower densities in growout ponds. The farmer harvests by draining the pond through a net, or by using a harvest pump. Yields range from 500 to 5,000 kilograms (head-on) per hectare per year, with 2,000 kilograms per hectare per year a much sought after goal. Production costs range from $2.00 to $6.00 per kilogram of live shrimp. If too many farms concentrate in a small area, semi-intensive shrimp farms can have a negative affect on the environment. Semi-intensive farming is very common in Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, China and Columbia (Rosenberry, 1998).

Semi-intensive pond systems in Latin America evolved quite differently from those in Asia. Latin American farms rely almost exclusively on high water exchange rates by diesel driven pumps to maintain water quality. Electric or diesel driven aerators are rare in Latin America. In Asia, electric aerators and electric water pumps are far more common. Much less water is exchanged in semi-intensive Asian shrimp ponds. Perhaps the main reason for the differences had to do with low fuel prices in some Latin American countries, particularly Ecuador. In most Asian countries, fuel is expensive and electrical service is the system of choice (Fast, 1992).